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Internal audit reports

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The Board considered issues related to the disclosure of information contained in internal audit reports of United Nations system organizations in the light of the expectation of the international community that the system should be as accountable and as transparent as possible. The Board stressed that it was important for any disclosure policy to incorporate adequate criteria to ensure that the human and legal rights of the staff were respected, especially in connection with information contained in internal audit reports that have to do with investigations. Board members also recognized that governing bodies should be able to adopt disclosure policies consistent with the need, for example, to preserve the confidentiality of industrial secrets or other highly sensitive information contained in internal audit reports. The Board, therefore, endorsed the adoption of disclosure policies, respecting the management prerogatives of executive heads and subject to conditions and criteria to be defined within the context of an organizational policy and which should not be applied retrospectively.